印度丫火大
By Siddharth Srivastava NEW DELHI - It is an incident being closely watched by Indian industry observers as future corporate decisions may depend on the outcome. As has been widely reported, Neelima Tirumalasetti, an American of Indian origin, has filed a suit in a federal court in Texas against a US firm.
新德里---印度裔美國人蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂（Neelima Tirumalasetti）在德克薩斯州一聯邦法院控告一家美國公司引起了廣泛的報道，因為，這次事件的結果將會影響到許多大公司外包工作給印度時的決定。
Neelima, an information technology analyst in quality assurance, was allegedly subject to repeated racial harassment and discrimination after the company for which she worked, Caremark, decided to outsource work to India.
蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂是Caremark公司品質保證部門的資訊技術分析員。據說，在該公司決定將工作外包給印度之後，她一再遭到種族侵擾和歧視。
Her case is not only important to ensure the welfare of people of Indian origin, who are among the wealthiest, earning high salaries in the US. It is of interest to Indian outsourcing firms, which have to interact with American and European clients and customers on a regular basis.
她的訴訟案不僅對確保在美國拿高薪的印裔美國人（美國最富有的族群之一）的福利至關重要，而且還引起了需要經常與歐美客戶打交道的印度外包公司的關注。
One of the main reasons, apart from the long and odd hours of work, for the high attrition口角磨擦 rates in Indian call centers is the abusive and racist outpourings by some foreign customers angry over jobs being outsourced to low-cost countries, with India being one of the pioneers of the process.
除了工作時間長和不固定之外，造成印度呼叫中心摩擦率高的主要原因之一是，一些外國消費者不滿把工作外包給低成本國家，而印度是外包的首選國家之一，他們就採取辱駡和種族歧視的方式發洩憤怒情緒。
It is not easy sitting in a far-off land to handle queries that could range from weather, rail reservations, maps and credit card statements. According to some experts, the stress caused by abusive callers results in an annual erosion of up to 60% to 70% of the over half a million Indians working in Indian call centers.
在遠離客戶所在地的地方為他們提供天氣情況、預定火車票、查詢地圖和信用卡結算清單等服務並非易事。據一些專家透露，呼叫者的辱駡給印度呼叫中心工作的印度人（超過50萬人）造成很大的精神壓力，導致每年的人員流失比例高達60－70％。
Neelima's lawsuit alleges that after Caremark announced in December 2003 that it would be outsourcing work to IBM India, she became a target of harassment. "Caremark's investors deserve to know how it conducts itself behind closed doors," Neelima said in an interview to The Times of India. "This lawsuit is about dignity and assuring that employees are treated equally regardless of their origin, race or ethnic background."
蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂在訴狀中稱，在2003年12月Caremark公司宣佈將把工作外包給IBM印度公司之後，她就成為被騷擾對象。她在接受《印度時報》（Times of India）採訪時說，“Caremark 的投資者應該很清楚公司內部的情況。這次訴訟關乎尊嚴，確保來自不同血緣、種族或民族的員工得到公平待遇。”
Earlier this year, in a move to cut costs, IBM Corp added more than 14,000 jobs in India after slashing 13,000 positions in Europe and the US. Last year IBM bought out Daksh eServices, the third-largest outsourcing firm in India with 6,000 employees, at a value estimated at over $170 million. IBM has in recent years implemented cost cuts in the face of dwindling financial results and leveraging in a new global economy.
今年初， IBM公司採取行動削減成本：在歐美裁員1.3萬人之後，在印度增員1.4萬人。去年，IBM收購了擁有6000名員工、價值估計超過1.7億美元的印度第三大商業外包企業－Daksh eServices。鑒於公司在新的全球經濟中財務狀況不斷惡化，IBM近幾年實施了大幅削減成本的計劃。 According to the allegations by Neelima, her co-workers repeatedly called her "brown-skinned bitch" and "dirty Indian" among other abuses, saying that people such as her were taking their jobs. Neelima, who is a US citizen, told her seniors of the problem, but matters only turned for the worse as Caremark allegedly removed her from higher responsibilities, denied her pay and accused her of lying about her case, including physical symptoms that led to hospitalization.
根據蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂的指控，她的同事一再使用“棕皮膚婊子”、“骯髒的印度人”等污辱性字眼稱呼她，並指責像她這樣的人搶了他們的工作。蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂是美國合法公民，她向上司反映問題，不過情況變得更糟，因為據說Caremark公司把她降職、不給她工資並指控她在訴訟中撒謊，包括謊稱自己受到身體傷害而住院。據報道，Caremark公司最後承認她的指控屬實，但又表示“鑒於公司員工擔心工作外包給印度，出現這種情況是可以理解的”。
Finally, Caremark reportedly conceded her case, but said that it was "understandable given Caremark's employees' concerns about outsourcing to India".
The lawsuit alleges that Neelima suffered a final emotional breakdown after Caremark wanted her to report to a co-worker and a junior whom she accused. Caremark fired Neelima after she took her case to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Neelima's case is a reflection of the pent-up anger that remains within populations due to job losses.
訴狀稱，在Caremark公司要求蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂在被她控告的一名同事和下級手下工作之後，她最後在精神上崩潰了。在她向美國平等就業機會委員會 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)提出訴訟之後，Caremark把她解雇了。 蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂一案反映出一些失業的美國人仍然充滿強烈的憤怒情緒。
Earlier this year, India-born PepsiCo president Indra Nooyi, one of Fortune's most powerful businesswoman, faced a fair bit of this ire when she anointed America as the "middle finger" of the world in a speech to Columbia Business School's graduating students. Americans took to deriding Nooyi, with the most vociferous comments registered on the Internet, though Nooyi explained that her meaning was entirely different from the more obvious interpretation.
今年初，印度出生的百事公司（Pepsi Co）總裁英德拉•諾依(Indra Nooyi)在對哥倫比亞大學商學院(Columbia Business School)畢業生發表演講時把美國比喻成世界的“中指”，結果遭到猛烈抨擊。儘管她盡力解釋說她的比喻與人們普遍的理解完全不同，但仍有一些美國人在互聯網上用最惡毒的評論攻擊她，嘲諷她。A comment in an Indian paper said: "No matter how many years she has lived in the US and how much she professes her loyalty to the country, to a bigot she is a brown foreigner. And a woman to boot. How dare she criticize the United States on American soil? If you are a recent immigrant, you don't bite the hand that fed you. It is okay if you are white and your forbears got off the boat a century or two ago."
諾依是《財富》雜誌（Fortune）評選出的最具影響力的商界女性之一。但印度一份報紙發表評論說，“不管她在美國生活多少年，不管她對這個國家有多忠誠，對種族偏執狂來說，她始終還是一名棕皮膚的外國人，而且還是個女人。她怎麼敢在美國人的地盤上對美國指手劃腳？如果你是新移民，你就不要對美國說三道四；如果你是白人，而且祖先早在1或2個世紀之前就來到美國，那就沒關係。”
Indians were also miffed 火大/火滾 at the parody揶揄 this year by a US radio station that telephoned an Indian call center. In the "call", aired on Philadelphia's Power 99 FM radio, the caller placed an order for beads and then abused the person on the other end of the line. Despite the problems, though, outsourcing is here to stay. Estimates suggest that only 200,000 to 400,000 jobs have moved from the US since the outsourcing trend began in the 1990s, which is still a fraction of 138 million jobs in the US. The Information Technology Association of America says only about 2% of 10 million computer-related jobs have been sent abroad.
今年美國一廣播電臺致電一印度呼叫中心的惡作劇也令印度人大為憤怒。在費城Power 99 FM播放的那段“通話”中，呼叫者訂購珠子，然後辱駡電話另一端的人。 儘管有這多麼問題存在，外包還是在進行。自從上世紀90年代外包業務開始流行起，估計只有20－40萬個工作機會從美國流失，與美國國內的1.38億個工作崗位相比，這只是“九牛一毛”。美國資訊技術協會（Information Technology Association of America）指出，1000萬個與電腦有關的工作機會中只有大約2％外包給海外。
However, jobs will move out at a higher pace. According to consultancy firm Forrester Research, 3.4 million US service-sector jobs are expected to have moved overseas by 2015. Observers say one-ninth of the world's service jobs could be done from any location.India has repeatedly urged Western nations to make a commitment not to enact legislation that prohibits the offshoring of call centers and software development.
然而，工作機會將以更快的速度流失到海外。據市場研究公司Forrester Research透露，預計到2015年，美國將有340萬個服務行業的工作機會流向海外。觀察家說，全球1/9的服務工作可能被外包。印度一再促請西方國家承諾不要通過禁止把工作外包給境外呼叫中心和軟體研發機構的法律。According to a study by Global Outsourcing: "The anger in the West over job losses and fear about offshoring has made this [racist calls] a growing problem. Some people call up with deliberately difficult questions. Most just say things like, 'you are from India. You don't know anything. I don't want to speak to you'." There are reports websites have sprung up that teach Americans the choicest Hindi abuses.
根據《全球外包》(Global Outsourcing)的一項調查：“西方對失去工作機會的憤怒以及對離岸外包的恐懼使這（打種族歧視電話）成為日益嚴峻的問題。一些呼叫者故意問一些刁難問題。絕大多數人只會這樣說：‘你從印度來。你什麼也不懂。我不想跟你說話’。”有報道說，教美國人學最難聽的印地語髒話的網站如雨後春筍般湧現出來。Until matters settle down, Indian call centers have been trying to protect their employees by training them in Western-accented English and other methods, such as taking on Western names. But this has not been very successful. Many have employed foreigners to train as well as take calls; others have installed technology that blanks out abusive callers from known numbers.
在問題解決之前，印度呼叫中心一直努力採取措施保護員工，例如訓練他們講西方口音的英語以及其他方法，例如起個西方名字。不過，這樣做並不十分奏效。許多公司請外國人訓練員工的英語以及接聽電話；其他的則引進先進技術從已知電話號碼中將出言不遜的呼叫者剔除。
There is no denying, though, that there will be victims of the transition and evening-out of global economic processes. Sadly, Neelima could be one of them. Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.
但是無可否認，在全球經濟轉變和穩定過程中，仍然會有人受到傷害。遺憾的是，蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂就是其中之一。
新德里---印度裔美國人蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂（Neelima Tirumalasetti）在德克薩斯州一聯邦法院控告一家美國公司引起了廣泛的報道，因為，這次事件的結果將會影響到許多大公司外包工作給印度時的決定。
Neelima, an information technology analyst in quality assurance, was allegedly subject to repeated racial harassment and discrimination after the company for which she worked, Caremark, decided to outsource work to India.
蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂是Caremark公司品質保證部門的資訊技術分析員。據說，在該公司決定將工作外包給印度之後，她一再遭到種族侵擾和歧視。
Her case is not only important to ensure the welfare of people of Indian origin, who are among the wealthiest, earning high salaries in the US. It is of interest to Indian outsourcing firms, which have to interact with American and European clients and customers on a regular basis.
她的訴訟案不僅對確保在美國拿高薪的印裔美國人（美國最富有的族群之一）的福利至關重要，而且還引起了需要經常與歐美客戶打交道的印度外包公司的關注。
One of the main reasons, apart from the long and odd hours of work, for the high attrition口角磨擦 rates in Indian call centers is the abusive and racist outpourings by some foreign customers angry over jobs being outsourced to low-cost countries, with India being one of the pioneers of the process.
除了工作時間長和不固定之外，造成印度呼叫中心摩擦率高的主要原因之一是，一些外國消費者不滿把工作外包給低成本國家，而印度是外包的首選國家之一，他們就採取辱駡和種族歧視的方式發洩憤怒情緒。
It is not easy sitting in a far-off land to handle queries that could range from weather, rail reservations, maps and credit card statements. According to some experts, the stress caused by abusive callers results in an annual erosion of up to 60% to 70% of the over half a million Indians working in Indian call centers.
在遠離客戶所在地的地方為他們提供天氣情況、預定火車票、查詢地圖和信用卡結算清單等服務並非易事。據一些專家透露，呼叫者的辱駡給印度呼叫中心工作的印度人（超過50萬人）造成很大的精神壓力，導致每年的人員流失比例高達60－70％。
Neelima's lawsuit alleges that after Caremark announced in December 2003 that it would be outsourcing work to IBM India, she became a target of harassment. "Caremark's investors deserve to know how it conducts itself behind closed doors," Neelima said in an interview to The Times of India. "This lawsuit is about dignity and assuring that employees are treated equally regardless of their origin, race or ethnic background."
蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂在訴狀中稱，在2003年12月Caremark公司宣佈將把工作外包給IBM印度公司之後，她就成為被騷擾對象。她在接受《印度時報》（Times of India）採訪時說，“Caremark 的投資者應該很清楚公司內部的情況。這次訴訟關乎尊嚴，確保來自不同血緣、種族或民族的員工得到公平待遇。”
Earlier this year, in a move to cut costs, IBM Corp added more than 14,000 jobs in India after slashing 13,000 positions in Europe and the US. Last year IBM bought out Daksh eServices, the third-largest outsourcing firm in India with 6,000 employees, at a value estimated at over $170 million. IBM has in recent years implemented cost cuts in the face of dwindling financial results and leveraging in a new global economy.
今年初， IBM公司採取行動削減成本：在歐美裁員1.3萬人之後，在印度增員1.4萬人。去年，IBM收購了擁有6000名員工、價值估計超過1.7億美元的印度第三大商業外包企業－Daksh eServices。鑒於公司在新的全球經濟中財務狀況不斷惡化，IBM近幾年實施了大幅削減成本的計劃。 According to the allegations by Neelima, her co-workers repeatedly called her "brown-skinned bitch" and "dirty Indian" among other abuses, saying that people such as her were taking their jobs. Neelima, who is a US citizen, told her seniors of the problem, but matters only turned for the worse as Caremark allegedly removed her from higher responsibilities, denied her pay and accused her of lying about her case, including physical symptoms that led to hospitalization.
根據蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂的指控，她的同事一再使用“棕皮膚婊子”、“骯髒的印度人”等污辱性字眼稱呼她，並指責像她這樣的人搶了他們的工作。蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂是美國合法公民，她向上司反映問題，不過情況變得更糟，因為據說Caremark公司把她降職、不給她工資並指控她在訴訟中撒謊，包括謊稱自己受到身體傷害而住院。據報道，Caremark公司最後承認她的指控屬實，但又表示“鑒於公司員工擔心工作外包給印度，出現這種情況是可以理解的”。
Finally, Caremark reportedly conceded her case, but said that it was "understandable given Caremark's employees' concerns about outsourcing to India".
The lawsuit alleges that Neelima suffered a final emotional breakdown after Caremark wanted her to report to a co-worker and a junior whom she accused. Caremark fired Neelima after she took her case to the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Neelima's case is a reflection of the pent-up anger that remains within populations due to job losses.
訴狀稱，在Caremark公司要求蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂在被她控告的一名同事和下級手下工作之後，她最後在精神上崩潰了。在她向美國平等就業機會委員會 (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission)提出訴訟之後，Caremark把她解雇了。 蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂一案反映出一些失業的美國人仍然充滿強烈的憤怒情緒。
Earlier this year, India-born PepsiCo president Indra Nooyi, one of Fortune's most powerful businesswoman, faced a fair bit of this ire when she anointed America as the "middle finger" of the world in a speech to Columbia Business School's graduating students. Americans took to deriding Nooyi, with the most vociferous comments registered on the Internet, though Nooyi explained that her meaning was entirely different from the more obvious interpretation.
今年初，印度出生的百事公司（Pepsi Co）總裁英德拉•諾依(Indra Nooyi)在對哥倫比亞大學商學院(Columbia Business School)畢業生發表演講時把美國比喻成世界的“中指”，結果遭到猛烈抨擊。儘管她盡力解釋說她的比喻與人們普遍的理解完全不同，但仍有一些美國人在互聯網上用最惡毒的評論攻擊她，嘲諷她。A comment in an Indian paper said: "No matter how many years she has lived in the US and how much she professes her loyalty to the country, to a bigot she is a brown foreigner. And a woman to boot. How dare she criticize the United States on American soil? If you are a recent immigrant, you don't bite the hand that fed you. It is okay if you are white and your forbears got off the boat a century or two ago."
諾依是《財富》雜誌（Fortune）評選出的最具影響力的商界女性之一。但印度一份報紙發表評論說，“不管她在美國生活多少年，不管她對這個國家有多忠誠，對種族偏執狂來說，她始終還是一名棕皮膚的外國人，而且還是個女人。她怎麼敢在美國人的地盤上對美國指手劃腳？如果你是新移民，你就不要對美國說三道四；如果你是白人，而且祖先早在1或2個世紀之前就來到美國，那就沒關係。”
Indians were also miffed 火大/火滾 at the parody揶揄 this year by a US radio station that telephoned an Indian call center. In the "call", aired on Philadelphia's Power 99 FM radio, the caller placed an order for beads and then abused the person on the other end of the line. Despite the problems, though, outsourcing is here to stay. Estimates suggest that only 200,000 to 400,000 jobs have moved from the US since the outsourcing trend began in the 1990s, which is still a fraction of 138 million jobs in the US. The Information Technology Association of America says only about 2% of 10 million computer-related jobs have been sent abroad.
今年美國一廣播電臺致電一印度呼叫中心的惡作劇也令印度人大為憤怒。在費城Power 99 FM播放的那段“通話”中，呼叫者訂購珠子，然後辱駡電話另一端的人。 儘管有這多麼問題存在，外包還是在進行。自從上世紀90年代外包業務開始流行起，估計只有20－40萬個工作機會從美國流失，與美國國內的1.38億個工作崗位相比，這只是“九牛一毛”。美國資訊技術協會（Information Technology Association of America）指出，1000萬個與電腦有關的工作機會中只有大約2％外包給海外。
However, jobs will move out at a higher pace. According to consultancy firm Forrester Research, 3.4 million US service-sector jobs are expected to have moved overseas by 2015. Observers say one-ninth of the world's service jobs could be done from any location.India has repeatedly urged Western nations to make a commitment not to enact legislation that prohibits the offshoring of call centers and software development.
然而，工作機會將以更快的速度流失到海外。據市場研究公司Forrester Research透露，預計到2015年，美國將有340萬個服務行業的工作機會流向海外。觀察家說，全球1/9的服務工作可能被外包。印度一再促請西方國家承諾不要通過禁止把工作外包給境外呼叫中心和軟體研發機構的法律。According to a study by Global Outsourcing: "The anger in the West over job losses and fear about offshoring has made this [racist calls] a growing problem. Some people call up with deliberately difficult questions. Most just say things like, 'you are from India. You don't know anything. I don't want to speak to you'." There are reports websites have sprung up that teach Americans the choicest Hindi abuses.
根據《全球外包》(Global Outsourcing)的一項調查：“西方對失去工作機會的憤怒以及對離岸外包的恐懼使這（打種族歧視電話）成為日益嚴峻的問題。一些呼叫者故意問一些刁難問題。絕大多數人只會這樣說：‘你從印度來。你什麼也不懂。我不想跟你說話’。”有報道說，教美國人學最難聽的印地語髒話的網站如雨後春筍般湧現出來。Until matters settle down, Indian call centers have been trying to protect their employees by training them in Western-accented English and other methods, such as taking on Western names. But this has not been very successful. Many have employed foreigners to train as well as take calls; others have installed technology that blanks out abusive callers from known numbers.
在問題解決之前，印度呼叫中心一直努力採取措施保護員工，例如訓練他們講西方口音的英語以及其他方法，例如起個西方名字。不過，這樣做並不十分奏效。許多公司請外國人訓練員工的英語以及接聽電話；其他的則引進先進技術從已知電話號碼中將出言不遜的呼叫者剔除。
There is no denying, though, that there will be victims of the transition and evening-out of global economic processes. Sadly, Neelima could be one of them. Siddharth Srivastava is a New Delhi-based journalist.
但是無可否認，在全球經濟轉變和穩定過程中，仍然會有人受到傷害。遺憾的是，蒂魯瑪拉塞蒂就是其中之一。
posted by nrasia | 9:40 AM
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